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The Lady is Murder

The medina attracted many tourists to Marrakech, but it was also easy to disappear here. Rabah Hadad was born and raised in London’s West Hampstead, his father a banker and his mother a teacher, but he had become something else.

He stopped in a small alleyway, the wall painted a garish fuchsia. In October, the notice about heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and such seemed ludicrous. He was only twenty-four and recruited by MI6 right out of Uni. Tonight he was in this Moroccan city to help solve the murder of an SIS data analyst who had died over 9,000 kilometers away on Mauritius. It was after eleven and it was quiet. Where was the contact?

An alley in the Medina in Marrakech – Found at Conde Nast Traveler

Footsteps from behind distracted Rabah. He didn’t notice the door to his right silently open. Then the two muffled shots and twin impacts on his chest. He looked down to witness blood seeping through his dark t-shirt. As he collapsed, the last thing he saw was the silencer and a beautiful woman holding the gun that killed him.

I leveraged a previous piece of flash fiction called Mauritius Intrigue that I authored a few days ago. Having nothing to go on when I started writing, I magnified the image above and saw the notice warned of the signs of heat related disorders. Since I also recently wrote a story set in Marrakech (albeit some 80 or so years ago), I decided to “recycle” the location.

Of course all this adds another mystery. What does the death of a young MI6 agent in Marrakech have to do with the murder of a middle-aged data analyst and mother of a son over nine thousand kilometers away on the other side of the African continent in the middle of the Indian Ocean?

I’ll let you know when I find out, including the identity of the mysterious women who pulled the trigger.

Feel like the main character is yet to come into this story. Though giving a background for Rabah Hadad and then killing him almost immediately felt a bit odd. Unless there’s a brother or girlfriend/ boyfriend who comes for revenge. Nice one, James.

As I mentioned to Varad, this is part of a larger story that began with “Mauritius Intrigue”. I had an epiphany last night as I was getting ready for bed about how to tie it all (or most of it) together. To be continued.

No time like the present, Moon. I’ve published the first expanded story about the Mauritius murder and have written but not yet published the second, where the agent talks to the dead woman’s autistic son. Don’t want to post them online too close together.

Funny you should say that. Start by reading the expanded version of a piece of flash fiction I wrote the other day: The Mauritius Robbery Affair: Arrival. It will take several more chapters to get there, but we’ll eventually arrive at Rabah’s death and then what happens next.

Have you read The Mauritius Robbery Affair: Arrival yet Chad? It’s an expanded version of my “Pegman” flash fiction story which started all this out. I’ve got a second chapter ready to publish and I’m currently editing a third. Still haven’t gotten up to the point where we enter this story yet, but soon, I hope. Then Agent Ian Dennis will really have his hands full.